28 NOVEMBER 2023www.pwc.com/energyopportunityThe energy-demand opportunity: How companies can thrive in the energy transition by Jon Chadwick, Samantha Vincent, Reid Morrison, and Rob Turner Organizations face an energy trilemma involving costs, carbon emissions, and supply uncertainty. But energy system advances can help them create value and become more sustainable and resilient—by taking charge of their energy demand.2 | www.strategy-business.comOrganizations worldwide spend more than US$10 trillion a year to meet their energy needs, and many stand-alone companies struggle under a heavy cost burden. In the UK, more than half of businesses surveyed in 2023 (54%) said that energy accounted for upward of 25% of their business costs.1 Unchecked energy usage does more than cut into the bottom line. It is also a major source of carbon emissions and a cause of operational uncertainty. But new dynamics in the global energy arena present opportunities for businesses to tackle all three parts of the so-called energy trilemma—costs, carbon emissions, and uncertainty of supply—at once, by holistically evaluating their own current and future energy needs and assuming greater control over energy demand.Of these new energy dynamics, perhaps the best known is the decarbonization taking place as more large-scale renewable power capacity comes online. But because renewable power can be unpredictable, as when clouds block the sun or the wind stops blowing, energy supplies and prices may be more volatile and harder for organizations to manage. These complexities are why other energy dynamics matter. Decentralization, resulting from the deployment of small-scale renewable energy generation and storage, lets organizations Jon Chad...
